Howl
by SilverTongued
Summary: After bringing down Davidoff, Derek and Chloe want to live incognito, just for a little while. But a ghost with a grudge and connections to the pack after them, Derek is learning that to stay incognito, you might not want to do it within Pack borders
1. Prologue

**Hi all, this is my first story online so please be gentle with me. It's called Howl. This idea came to me a while back and after a conversation over hot chocolate, a friend convinced me to write and post it. So a huge thanks to my 'unofficial' Beta reader, teamtwihard, a good friend and an awesome writer herself. Thanks for your support and advice over the birth of this story, I couldn't have done it without you girlie.**

**PROLOUGE**

JAIME

"Good night," I said, then clicked off the microphone and walked backstage as I listened to the audience's applause.

"Good show Jaime," said J.D, my production manager, as I handed him the mike.

"Isn't it always," I replied with a smile as he steered me in to the hallway where I signed a few autographs and answered some questions from audience members before going to my dressing room.

There I changed into a skirt and silk blouse, removed the pins from my hair and brushed it, then made my way to the back door of the theatre with J.D, where, of course, there were more fans and the local press. I signed more autographs and answered yet more questions. J.D then escorted me through the small crowd to the car waiting for me. I looked out the window and as the car pulled away, and I saw a guy, tall with blonde hair, standing at the curb watching as the car drove away.

Back at the hotel, I took a shower and wrapped myself in the hotels soft bathrobe, then ordered some room service. I put the phone down, and lay back on the bed, closing my eyes and massaging my temples. God I'm getting too old for this, I thought to myself. I wasn't even that old. I was in my mid forties and felt like I was in my early thirties, early twenties when in the company of a particular werewolf.

I smiled at the thought of Jeremy. I was couldn't wait to see him in two days when we met for the inter-racial council meeting. I just wished he was here with me now to help relieve some of the stress of my most recent live show.

Maybe it's time to bow out gracefully, I thought, while I still have an audience. I let my head flop back on to the pillows, and let out a breath.

"Rough day at work?"

I jumped up and spun to face the person who spoke. A guy. A tall guy with... blonde hair. Shit! It's that guy from the theatre. How did he get in here without me noticing?

I straitened my shoulders and adjusted my robe to make sure he saw more than I wanted to show. "No not really," I answered, taking a small step back. "Just trying to relax after a day of communing with spirits."

He smiled at that, like I'd just told him some good joke.

"What? Don't believe in ghosts?" I ask, taking another step.

"Oh no. I believe, why else would I be here?" he replied.

"That's a good question. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to see you of course."

I took another step back thinking, great just what I needed, another stalker, that was one thing I had been happy to get rid of after I hit the big four-oh.

"Why do you need to see me?" I took another step.

"Well I would talk to the Alpha himself but I doubt he'd hear me"

I froze. The Alpha? Jeremy? How did he know him? Why would he be able to –

"You're a ghost."

"Well duh. Why else would I be stood here talking to you on a Friday night?"

Well he was just charming, wasn't he.

"Well let's get to it then. What does the Alpha need to know?"

"I was killed by a werewolf."

"Killed by a werewolf?"

"Yes. Wonderful experience. I had my neck snapped then had to watch as he started to tear my body apart."

"A man eater?"

He just looked at me.

"And what were you? You're obviously more than human if you know about werewolves and me."

He was silent for a moment before answering. "I was a Shaman. My name is Lewis Hayes."

"And how did you know to contact me? Or that I would even be able to get in touch with the Alpha?"

"It's common knowledge that the wolves are on the council with a necro. I just had to ask around, to find out who it was."

Oh. That made sense.

"There's a council meeting next week, I'll tell the Alpha then."

"Don't go to too much trouble. It's only a werewolf running around eating people."

I glared at him and said icily, "I'll do what I can and relay your message. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to have some peace this evening."

"Whatever. I'm gone," he replied as he faded away.

I raced to the phone and dialled Jeremy's number from memory. He picked up on the first ring.

"Jaime! What is it? You're panicking."

I gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah, just a bit. Have I ever told you how much I love that sixth sense of yours?"

"Jaime. Tell me what's wrong."

I did.


	2. Chapter 1

**I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed (6 reviews on the prologue – I'd only hoped for 2), and those who favourite me – THANK YOU!**

**I'd again like to thank my amazing beta teamtwihard, for helping me stay on track when I started rambling...hmm could probably use you now. Lol**

**The genius that is Kelley Armstrong owns Darkest Powers and Women of the otherworld, not me- though I wish I did. Anyway on to the story!**

**CHAPTER 1**

CHLOE

"Soap, toothpaste, one, two ... six toothbrushes..."

I walked along the isle reciting the list and putting the items in the basket that Derek held.

"Shampoo, conditioner –"

"Do we really need all of this?" Derek asked.

I looked at him, surprised he'd spoken. He'd been silent since we entered the store, and had a sullen expression on his face. I thought that was the cashiers fault though, after I caught the look he gave Derek, as though just because he was big he was obviously a trouble maker. He got that a lot.

"Yes we need all this. Unless you forgot we left in a bit of hurry and had to leave all of our things back in Tupper Lake, after you panicked. All we have is the emergency supplies in our backpacks, and we weren't exactly focused on hygiene when we packed those."

He glowered at me. "We left for a good reason."

"I know. You found a werewolf's scent and thought it was the pack. But Tupper Lake is over a hundred miles from Syracuse and just because we were in New York doesn't mean they'll be the only wolves there. You were there."

"Yes because Dad said the quickest way to Vermont was to cut through New York."

"And we also ran into Liam and Ramon before."

His green eyes stared into mine and in them I could see him thinking it through.

"You're right. New York just makes me nervous."

"I know."

We finished shopping and paid for it, Derek taking the bags from the cashier, who was looking nervous about being so close to him. Which only irritated Derek further.

As we left the store and headed back to the motel I tried to think of a way to make Derek feel better.

"You know, even if you did run into the pack, I doubt they'd hurt you. You remember what Andrew said, about them. How they teach werewolves how to control their powers."

He grunted.

"Maybe after we get settled in Canada we ... could..." I froze and felt the bags I was carrying fall to the ground.

There, across the street. It looked like, but it couldn't be, he was dead. And you're a necromancer, duh, you can see the dead, said a little voice in my head. Oh, right.

"Chloe, Chloe! What's wrong?"

He wasn't limping anymore, but I suppose being a ghost he wouldn't have any injuries. Other than that he looked exactly the same as he did the night I saw him die. Tall and lean with shoulder length blonde hair.

"L...Li...Liam," I stuttered.

Derek jerked up, looking around the street rapidly, then looked back at me. "Where is he?"

I pointed to where he was standing, watching me. He smiled when I acknowledged him. It wasn't a nice smile. It looked... feral.

He turned and walked to the end of the street and turned the corner.

I ran to the corner just in time to see Liam turn down an ally, and raced to follow him. Derek barely hesitated before following.

"Chloe. Where are we going?"

"I don't know," I panted. "I'm just following him."

As we got to the ally I saw Liam walk through a heavy metal door of some rundown building. I reached the door, and pulled on it. Locked. Damn.

"Out the way Chloe," Derek said from behind me.

I took a few steps to the side, 'out of the way' like he said.

He grabbed the handle and pulled. It wouldn't budge. He grunted, obviously surprised it didn't move. He took a step back and looked at the door.

"It's rusted shut."

"Can you open it?" I asked.

"Maybe."

He took hold of the handle with both hands, planted his feet firmly, and pulled. I could see his muscles straining, and his tendons sticking out as he struggled to open the door. He roared as he gave one last heave and threw the door behind him. I stepped back as it hit the wall about a foot from me.

Derek looked from the doorway to the door then to me, his eyes wide. "Chloe...I..."

"You didn't hit me. It's ok, I'm fine."

He continued to stare at me for a moment longer then nodded. I went through the doorway and waited a moment for my eyes to adjust. Inside it was littered with broken furniture, old newspapers and other trash. As I walked through the room, I heard something skitter across the floor.

"Rats," Derek explained.

Rats, uh. I hated rats. I moved through the room and through another doorway, where I stopped. There in the middle of the room, was Liam. He stood looking at me with that same creepy smile on his face. I shivered. His smile widened.

"Well if it isn't my favourite little filly," he said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as Derek came up behind me.

"What? A guy can't just drop by to say hi?" he asked innocently.

"No, not after the way we left things."

"Ah, you mean after your boyfriend killed me."

"If he hadn't you would have killed him," I countered. I felt Derek bristle behind me, he knew what we were talking about. He still felt guilty about killing Liam, although what I said was true.

"True. But then you tried to turn me into your zombie slave."

I flinched. It had only been a threat to get him to talk, but one I had been willing to carry out if necessary. That didn't mean I was happy about it though.

I took a deep breath then asked again "What are you doing here, really?"

"I'm checking up on you."

"Why?"

"Well, now that I'm not around to liven things up, I wanted to make sure you weren't getting bored."

"Things are lively enough thanks."

"Well I'm not sure that's true. But it will be soon."

My blood went cold at those words.

"W...what's that supposed to mean?"

The feral smile came back full force and with that he vanished.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi All**

**I'd like to apologise for taking so long to write this chapter, I had a bit of writers block with the character.**

**I want to thank you all for being so patient with me, and for all the reviews (double digits, Yay!) and to those of you that favourite-ed me again Thank you.**

**I want to quickly mention my beta teamtwihard for ****nagging**** encouraging me to finish this Chapter – thanks girlie, couldn't have done it without you.**

**Anyway enough of this, here is what you've been waiting for...**

**Chapter 2**

KARL

Sometimes I regretted joining the pack. This was one of those times.

I was over reacting, I knew it. Jeremy was a good Alpha, any idiot could see that, but after years of doing things my own way I was finding it difficult taking orders from someone else.

I just didn't see the point in us being here. We'd come to this backwater town to tell the rest of the Council about the man eater. Yes I could see the importance of giving them a heads up, but it I didn't think it took _seven_ of us to deliver the message (nine if you included the pups).

Of course Jeremy disagreed. It was pack matter therefore the whole pack should be there. And of course Clay agreed.

I was annoyed about not being able to do things my own way and I knew if I hadn't gotten out of there I would have done something I regretted. Something that Clay would have been happy to make _sure_ I regretted.

So here I was trying to walk off my irritation and thinking that I'd rather be hunting Big Foot with Hope instead of going to this ridiculous meeting.

Clay would agree with Jeremy no matter the subject. Hell I bet if Jeremy ordered him to jump off a cliff he'd do it. I smiled at the image that thought presented.

I froze in my tracks. Deep breath. Werewolf.

No surely not.

I bent down to the street and retied my shoelace and took another deep breath. There was no denying it. Definitely werewolf. Young. Very young. I'd guess he was barely past his first Change.

What was a mutt that young doing so close to the New York boarder? Who was his father? Surely he wouldn't be travelling alone.

I stood up and walked slowly around the area trying to pick up another mutts scent.

Nothing.

No, not nothing. There was another scent, but not a mutt. Human. I followed the trail and the scents combined. The pup was _with_ the human. I followed the scents and found myself standing outside a small grocery store.

If he was with a human did that mean he was alone?

That thought gave me pause. A lone mutt. Near the New York boarder, where there had been a man-eater kill only two weeks ago. Coincidence? Not likely.

With new purpose I continued to follow the scent to the store's door. Here the scent became fresher. Hot on his heels, I tracked the scent across the street and around various bands, until I turned the corner of a warehouse and spotting two figures, quickly backpedalled.

I looked around the corner at the mutt and his human. He looked vaguely familiar, though I was sure I hadn't seen him before. Had tanned skin, dark hair and looked to be in his twenties but I knew that was a lie from his scent. The human however was another matter. A girl who looked a lot younger than mutt was. She could barely be in her teens, with her pale skin, and her pitch black hair she looked ill. What could this mutt possibly be doing with her? Whatever it was it couldn't be good.

They ran to a door, the girl leading, and stopped at the warehouse door. The girl tugged on the door but it didn't open. I guess it was locked, not that that would stop the mutt. He stepped up to the door as the girl stood against the wall behind him. He pulled on the door, and when it didn't open took a step back and looked at it, as if willing it to open.

He stepped back to the door again and spread his feet. Roaring, he pulled the door from its hinges and threw it behind him.

I watched as it hit the wall narrowly missing the girl. She showed no reaction, as the mutt turned to face her. He stared at her, nodded, then she walked into the building with him at her heels.

Judging by her reaction, or lack of one, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. She acted as though throwing a door around was normal, but she had to know it wasn't, he wasn't.

But if that was true then he'd revealed himself to a human. If he'd revealed werewolves to a human then he'd broken Pack Law. Even if he wasn't the man-eater he, he was as good as dead anyway.

I pulled back from the corner and looked along the wall for another entrance to the building. There weren't any door, but near a dumpster there was a window about 10ft up. It was boarded over, therefore there was no glass. Easy.

I pushed the dumpster across to under the window, climbed on top and jumped. I grabbed the window ledge and pulled myself up. I pushed against the boards and the fell away, to land on the trash covered floor.

I climbed through the window and walked quietly from the room to the hallway. The hallway lead to an open balcony that observed a large room, obviously the original main floor. I assumed they wouldn't be heading for the main floor but as I passed the balcony, I heard someone.

"Rats."

I sniffed the air and sure enough smelt the rats that infested the warehouse. So the mutt could use his nose. That could prove both useful and problematic.

The human entered the room through the doorway and stopped in her tracks, eyes wide. The room was large but I couldn't see anything that would impress her.

Unless she saw me.

At that thought I realised just how obvious I'd made myself, and ducked back into the room.

"What are you doing here?" the human said. For a moment I thought she was speaking to me but she continued "No, not after the way we left things."

Now I was confused. Who was she talking to? I couldn't hear anyone respond, only her. Then it occurred to me, she must be speaking to someone on a cell phone. If I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation then obviously the other person wasn't there. There was no other way that I wouldn't be able to hear them if they were there, not with my enhanced hearing.

"If he hadn't you would have killed him," the human said.

Who would have killed who? Who was in danger? Obviously a male she cared about. Was that why she was with the mutt? Did he tell her he'd help her? I couldn't think of why else a mutt would be with a human child, but if that was what happened, I doubted it was coincidental that mutt was 'helping' her.

I listened to the rest of the girl's conversation hoping to learn more details.

"What are you doing here, really?"

"Why?"

"Things are lively enough thanks."

She hesitated before stammering "W...what's that supposed to mean?"

She was silent for a moment before saying "He's g..gone."

"What did he want?" The mutt, obviously the phone call was finished.

"H..he said that he d..d..didn't want us getting bored so h...he was going to liven things up."

"When?"

"S..soon."

"Come here. You need to calm down, you're stuttering again. You need to remember, he's gone. The worst he can do now is talk to you. He can't hurt you Chloe."

Chloe. Now I had her name. But what was his?

I heard someone take a deep breath then the human, Chloe said "You're right. There's no reason to panic. He can't do anything."

"I wouldn't say that. He can still do some damage."

"H..How?"

"I don't know but I think if he wants something done he'll find a way to get it done."

"That's not very reassuring."

"Sorry but I'm not going to lie."

"I know."

"Look, there's no point worrying about this now. We'll figure out what he's up to soon. Right now let's go back to the store and see about the groceries."

"Yeah, ok. Tori will kill us if we don't get her some shampoo. You know what she's like."

"Yeah, I do. I don't really care about her and her hair, but I still don't want her yelling at me. And I really don't want her yelling at you."

"She's not that bad."

"Yes she is, you're just too nice."

"Whatever Derek. Come on let's go."

I heard their footsteps retreat from the room.

I'd learnt quite a bit.

Someone was threatening the human, Chloe and someone she cared for.

The mutt, Derek, I'd never heard of, but he was obviously involved somehow, I didn't believe in coincidences. He also seemed to care for the girl.

They weren't alone, but the mutt didn't like this Tori girl, whereas Chloe did.

With this new information a plan began to form in my head. First I had to follow them.

I crawled back through the window and jumped over the dumpster to land in a crouch on the ally floor. I looked round the corner again and saw the pair exit the building.

As they walked away, a smile crept over my lips.

I was going hunting.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi All**

**Again I'd like to apologise for taking so long to write this chapter, I've been struggling with it for ages. I'd thought to take a bit of time away from it and write fresh, but then life kinda got in the way.**

**I know myself that it's frustrating waiting for a story, so thank you for being so unbelievably patient with me.**

**And for all the reviews and to those of you that favourite-ed me, once again - Thank you!**

**And of course TEAMTWIHARD, an amazing(!) author herself and a great friend – thank you for pushing me to get back to this, and for all your help.**

**Now you've waited long enough...**

**CHAPTER 3**

CHLOE

We headed back to the grocery store hoping to find the bags still on the sidewalk. However when we got there the sidewalk was empty, so we went back into the store to do more shopping.

By the time we left the store with a second set of bags in hand, Derek was in an even worse mood than before, and by the glower on his face I had a feeling it was about more than just the store clerk this time.

We walked back to our motel on the edge of town. We'd rented two bedrooms as usual, one for the guys and one for the girls. The boy's room was our usual base so we went there to drop off the groceries and tell everyone of our ghostly encounter.

"Chloe."

I stopped before opening the door and turned to face Derek, "Yeah?"

"I don't think we should say anything to the others about Liam."

"Why?"

"Because this is our mess and we don't need to worry everyone for no reason."

"No reason? Derek, our 'mess' effect's them too. You said yourself he could still cause trouble, even dead."

He flinched.

"I know what I said."

"Then why shouldn't we tell them about this? They need to know."

"No they don't. We've never told them about Liam before, we don't need to tell them now."

"So, what? We never tell them?"

"Ok."

"We never tell them? Derek, we have to."

"No we don't. Chloe, if we tell them they'll worry about it and if it'll happen again. Do you really want Lauren to worry about you all the time?"

As I listened to him it hit me. He was trying to convince me that it was for my sake and the others' that he didn't want to say anything. But this wasn't about the others or me. It wasn't even about Simon.

"This is about your dad."

I saw surprise flash across his face for a moment, then his old blank mask fell into place.

"No it's not."

"You haven't told your dad about Liam and you don't want him to know that he died."

"No. I don't want him to know that I killed him."

"Derek we've been over this a hundred times. If you didn't kill him, he would've killed you. And then he would've killed me."

We stared at each other for a moment before I continued.

"Derek, your dad won't be mad." As if it was that simple.

As I looked at him I noticed that his eyes were unfocused.

"I was supposed to be different from the others Chloe. But I killed someone just like they did. I'm just as bad as they were."

I had a moment of confusion before I realized he was talking about the other experimental werewolves. His brothers.

I put the groceries on the ground before closing the distance between us and putting my arms around his waist. His body went rigid.

"Derek, they killed that woman for no real reason, and felt no guilt. Even if they were children there was no good way to look at it and that's why they were... removed. You're different. You didn't mean to kill Liam, it was an accident, and you've felt nothing _but_ guilt since."

I leaned back to look him in the eyes.

" You're nothing like the others. I know that, Simon knows that, even Tori knows that and so does your dad. He'll understand."

He looked at me for a long while before relaxing.

He pulled me back into a hug. "Thank you Chloe."

"Anytime. Now, can we go inside? We've taken so long getting the groceries they're probably ready to call the cops."

He looked down at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Chloe, my dad's been on the run for 14 years. He's not stupid enough to call the cops."

"You know what I meant."

I picked up the groceries from the floor and Derek opened the door to the boys room.

The room was empty.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi All**

**Ok, so it's been a very long time since I updated and I can't apologize enough for that. There's no excuse for taking so long to write a chapter, but it's one that I really struggled with. I don't know why, it just never came out right, every time I tried to write it, it turned into a conversation between two different people and not Chloe and Derek, and that just wasn't fair to the characters or to you the readers.**

**I'd like to say thanks to all of you that reviewed and favourite-ed me.**

**And of course a massive THANK YOU(!) to TEAMTWIHARD, who listened to my oh-so-many rants and helped me finally finish this chapter. Couldn't have done it without you girlie. She's an epic author herself and if you get a chance, check her out.**

**And for being so patient with me, I'd like to again say THANK YOU to you, the readers. It's for you I do this, so let me know what you think...**

**CHAPTER 4**

CHLOE

Derek stalked into the room then headed for the bathroom.

"Hello?" I called, walking into the room and putting the groceries on the bed.

" Kit? Simon? Anyone here?"

Derek emerged from the bathroom, shaking his head.

"Apparently not." I turned and headed out into the hall, Derek following closely behind, opened the door to the girls room and stepped inside.

"Hello? Aunt Lauren? Tori?"

I looked in the bathroom, then turned to Derek, "I guess they went out?"

Derek returned to the doorway, looked down the corridor, then knelt on the ground for a moment.

"Their...scents aren't that old, they haven't been gone long."

"Think they got tired of waiting for us?"

"More like Tori got tired of waiting."

I ignored his comment, followed him into the corridor and closed the door behind me, then closed the door to the boys room too.

"Well, I'm starving. And you're always hungry. So... lunch?"

"Sure."

We left the motel and headed to a diner a few streets away. It was a little busier than I expected considering it was two in the afternoon, but easily found an empty booth by the window.

"What can I get you, kids?"

I looked up to see a waitress, her dark hair pulled back in a short pony tail, smiling down at us.

We gave our order to Julie, according to her name tag, and were quickly presented with a stack of pancakes for me, and a platter of bacon, sausages, eggs and fried bread and a double cheeseburger with fries and a side of onion rings for Derek.

Derek glanced around the room before directing his attention to his burger. I took a quick look around too, but didn't notice anything concerning. Though if there had been I knew Derek would've noticed and said something

Looking out the window I saw a group of high school girls walking down the street laughing. I wished for a moment that I was still normal, that I had an ordinary life with friends I could talk and laugh with, and that my biggest problems were the 'big test' or getting a zit.

Then I looked at Derek and a small smile pulled at my lips. I thought how boring that life would be and how if I had that life, I wouldn't have him.

I was in the middle of pouring syrup over my pancakes when Julie returned putting our sodas on the table, making me jump and spill the syrup on my jeans.

Derek looked at me then turned to glare at Julie. I kicked him under the table as I placed the bottle back on the table, and he glanced at me before focusing his attention on his burger again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said.

"It wasn't your fault, don't worry," I replied, picking up a few napkins and starting to wipe at the syrup.

"That's not gonna work. Syrup's the worst thing to get out." She pointed towards a door at the other end of the diner. "The bathroom's through there, warm water will work a lot better than a napkin."

"Thanks," I answered.

She smiled "No problem, hun."

A bell dinged and she went to pick up another order.

I turned to Derek, who was finishing his burger. He looked up as I slid out of the booth and raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be back in a minute," I said.

He nodded and started on his onion rings as I headed towards the bathroom.

In the bathroom I took some paper towels, wet them with warm water and began scrubbing at the drying syrup on my jeans. I repeated the process again and again until it was mostly gone.

In my now clean but very wet jeans, I put the paper towels in the trash. As I turned towards the door I spotted a hand dryer on the wall next to it, and used it to dry the wet patch on my leg.

I looked at my watch as I stood there, and saw that I'd been gone nearly 10 minutes. I was surprised that Derek hadn't already barged in to check on me, considering how worked up he was about being so close to New York, not to mention our run in with Liam. I checked my nearly dry leg and figured it was good enough.

As I touched the door handle something smashed behind me.

A muffled scream escaped me as a hand clapped around my mouth.


End file.
